Twilight's Disciples Forum America Today

Most of my friends on this site are American, so I will start by asking you to comment on the state of your great country today. Is the economic situation gradually imporving, do you think? What are you country's main problems, perhaps? What do you like most, about America?

 

Julian

I think that we are a country that has the potential to be great, but that we have been twisted and poisoned by those who control us. Many, many of our laws should not be. And the balance of power is tipped unacceptably towards the government's officials. When they step back, and stop trying to control things, fix things, then we may find out just how high America can reach. The solution is not one that many will embrace...it will be hard...but we are in such a bad place that it will take more than instant-gratification promises to drag us out again.

One huge step forward would be the separation of church and state. Yes, we claim that this is true, but...Gay marriage is illegal, abortions look to be going the same way. Presidents routinely call upon God in their public addresses. But for a shift in religion, each of these might be viewed and acted upon differently...and that is the heart of it, for few, it seems, can truly separate themselves from their religious beliefs. This is the issue that should be addressed, not whether the successful are stealing from those who are not. We are a nation that says one thing but means another, does another.

Brink of Insanity

I am standing on the brink of insanity. Not my own insanity, but that of our nation.

What have we become? I am asking that of myself almost every second, of the waking moments of my day and somehow Billy Joel�s �We didn�t start the fire� keeps playing in my head.

We have a runaway budget that apparently has no bottom line in sight.

We have banks forced to take money they didn�t need and weren�t allowed to pay it back, until the White House said it was ok.

We have a government that is now full of czars.

We have politicians, from both sides of the aisle that either have a tax problem or a pants problem, take your pick.

The State of California is handing out I.O.U�s.

Bills are being shoved through the house faster than anyone can even react to them or read them for that matter.

Joblessness is up to 9.5%.

52 banks have failed in the last year.

Mississippi is the fattest state for the fifth year in a row, with its childhood obesity topping the scale at 44.4%.

Minnesota has just elected a comedian to represent them in the Senate.

Michael Jackson�s death is on the brink of becoming a national day of mourning.

Government transparency now has a sun shade over it.

Is this the change we need?

 

 

America is not doing so good.

The solution to the economy, the corrupt government, return to our roots?

I believe it's in the home.  If each individual would strive to become a better person, then eventually, our nation will turn out okay.  The citizens are the heart of America; where we go, our nation goes.

Also, I think that, as a nation, we need to turn back to God.  Obama says that we are not a Christian nation--except for the fact that our founding fathers were Christians and based our constitution from the Bible.  But he's right, we have become our own idols, and we are reaping the consequences.
Really, if our country doesn't have a revival, I honestly don't think we'll ever come out of this decline.

Sorry to preach, but it's the truth.
I fear for our country, and I wonder what my future will be like, but my hope is in the Lord, and I know that He will take care of me, no matter what happens in the world around us.

If each one of us simply relies on God, eventually, our nation will return to our Christian roots.  But only if.

~Lauren

P.S.  I love America though, and I know I am very blessed to be living in this country.

I think that America is getting slowly worse, but not because of Bush or Obama, because of our separation as a whole. Instead of being united in these trying times, we're fighting amongst each other for whose fault this is instead of simply trying to fix the problem in the first place. I'll quote one of my favorite historic figures whose words reflect our situation perfectly, 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' This is, of course, Abraham Lincoln, whose leadership was able to keep a nation together while also being a major factor in the ending of slavery. That is our problem, our nation does EVERYTHING to divide itself. Racism, reverse-discrimination, sexism, fear, doubt, the two-party system, religion, atheism, eco-friendliness, conservatism, liberalism, progressivism, the media, every possible difference in opinion is automatically castigated by someone, even if the opinion is simply not accepting everyone. Instead of squabbling about the little things, the unimportant things, and even the big things that don't need to be immediately addressed, we should worry about, and unite towards, a common goal: fixing the economy and fighting the war on terrorism. Once we are united under fixing the very basis of freedom, we can then worry about the other stuff, but as Americans instead of Democrats or Republicans. This is the only way we can become the once-great nation that is yearning to be reborn once again!

Well yes...and no. Spot-on about everyone improving themselves. But I don't think that we should "turn back to God" as a NATION. It discriminates; it cuts out groups of people who don't believe in God; differences of opinion and beliefs between religions or even sects of the same religion are already causing controversy. Religion SHOULD NOT be part of the government. Religion should be a personal decision. 

I completely agree. Religion and politics are two very different things.

My family are from the US and most of the problems they've told me of come back to society as a whole. I can't really voice an opinion as I don't live there, but my family in New York have made me aware of the struggles on a more personal level. From what my aunt has discussed with me, its simple things like people just not looking out for each other. The community spirit doesn't exist anymore. To be honest, it really doesn't sound that different to what is going on here in England.

Oh, and the US constitution wasn't based on the Bible. It was based on the Magna Carta of 1215. (I won't go into detail, this isn't a history lesson!)

We are young...

America's the teenager of the world and everyone else, from time to time, gets slightly annoyed with our sometimes rash behavior.
Most of us are doing what we can to "get through it" but the fact is we're just growing up.
And these (the issues mentioned above) are our growing pains.

I love America, and in spite of it's flaws I truly believe we can do great things, we just have to resist the temptation to become the stereotypical suicidal teen...

My humble opinion...

I'm with the PP who said that America as a country is young. But I do think that even the young need to learn from their mistakes.

As someone who will soon be let loose from the safe cocoon of university and into the working world, I am dismayed and a bit unnerved by the current state of our economy. Yes, I do believe the worst is over and yes, I do believe the free market will eventually once again turn in an upswing....but this is one of the nastiest downswings we've seen as a country since the Great Depression.

I think the current political climate is too volatile and divisive. The Republican party has suffered a heavy beating in the last election, is virtually championless, and suffers the lowest rate of citizen confidence in what feels like forever. I believe in a recent Gallup poll, something like maybe 20% of Americans actually identified themselves as 'Republicans'. This is a huge loss to the GOP.

On the other hand, the far left--having been stifled and suppressed by eight years of violently right-wing politics and administration--is glutting itself on legislation and personal agenda. Having one of their own in the White House, and a Congress majority has made them a bit punch-drunk on power and this still wet-behind-the-ears administration is having a hard time reining them in. As a just-barely-left-of center moderate, watching the extreme left go hog wild leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Hello, we saw what a too-far leaning government could do to the country. Why are we letting history repeat itself again?

I do believe America will recover from this, as it has recovered from all blows dealt to it. We'll be a bit bruised, and very dusty before it's all over, but hopefully we'll learn from it, and be more careful in the future.

(We better, anyway, because I love this country and have no intention of leaving it, so that's my kids' future we're talking about here! :P :))

~Katherine